This invention relates to an innovative integrated System for dispensing, weighing, identifying, processing and printing UPC/SKU/QR Code Bar Code or RFID-tag identifiers; said system also functions as a hub for bulk food product pre-checkout functions.
With consumers seeking to be environmentally-friendly, bulk foods are arguably the number one emerging consumer trend in the grocery industry. Some advantages of bulk food sections in grocery stores (i.e. unpackaged food in bulk bins) are, inter alia:                A consumer can purchase precisely the amount of food they desire;        Bulk foods are 25% cheaper on average than packaged counterparts;        
Bulk foods carry 40%-50% profit margins. The current drawback to bulk food dispensing, even in the most modern grocery stores, is that a bulk food customer must usually:                grab a plastic bag from a roll;        place the bag beneath a gravity-bin or next to a scoop-style dispenser;        pull the dispenser lever or turn the dispenser crank or screw;        walk with her bag to a weigh-station, usually comprising an old-fashioned analog baker's scale;        write the product name and weight on a sticker-label or twist-tie with a felt pen;        stick the sticker-label on the plastic bag;        use an old-fashioned twist-tie to close and secure the bag;        walk to the checkout line with the bag;        the grocery checkout clerk must then re-weigh the bag and manually input the item's unit price and item number        grocery checkout clerk must then generate yet another receipt.        
What is needed, therefore, is a System that modernizes and integrates these functions in a unique way that technologically solves these issues, so the customer can select a desired amount of his/her product, and the System handles most of the remaining processing and checkout functions automatically. The instant invention solves these problems via its Bulk Food Integrated Scale System.
The instant System solves the current slow, cumbersome bulk food preparation process by, inter alia, positioning a digital scale underneath, behind, adjacent to, or into the gravity bin's bracket, then transmitting the item's weight to a centralized processor and then to a thermal printer which prints a UPC/SKU/QR Code bar code receipt onto a “luggage bag tag”-style sticky label, which can optionally be used in lieu of a traditional twist-tie to seal the customer's bag.
Based on the invention's “integrated scale” data, information about the bulk food item, price, and weight are automatically measured, transmitted and printed onto an adhesive thermal paper stock which is automatically dispensed at the system's “hub,” or central kiosk area, where the consumer can look at a monitor display to verify the item, weight and price, and then grab the adhesive strip and use the strip to seal the bag. The hub can alternatively apply the sticky bag tag in an automated fashion via robotic arm or actuator.
Through these System steps, bulk food checkout more efficient for the consumer and for the store clerk, as the items are ultimately scanned like any other “factory packaged” item in the store. For oddly-shaped bulk foods or for liquid sundries like shampoo or oils or sauces, the receipt strip may also comprise a RFID Chip to aid the end-point laser scanner in checkout. Such optional chips solve potential problems of poorly printed, obscured, crumpled or damaged bar codes on the strip.